ABSTRACTS
Volume 1, Number 2
April-June 1996
Vol. 1, Num 2: Contents
| Editorial | Up
Front | Abstracts
AIDS Knowledge Gaps:Results from
the First Decade of the Epidemic and Implications for Future Public Information
Efforts
C. T. Salmon, K. Wooten, E. Gentry, G.E. Cole,
& F. Kroger
Throughout the first decade of AIDS, certain populations have been
disproportionately affected [in] its spread, particularly men, blacks,
Hispanics, and the young. Just as there are population differences in
the spread of the disease, there are differences in knowledge about
the disease as well. This article applies the knowledge gap framework
to examine the nature and magnitude of gaps in knowledge among different
populations. The analysis shows that persons of low education lag behind
other groups [both] in true-transmission knowledge (i.e., knowledge
about ways in which HIV/AIDS actually is transmitted) and false-transmission
knowledge (i.e., misconceptions about how the disease is spread).
Confronting Cancer on thirtysomething:
Audience Response to Health Content on Entertainment Television
B.F. Sharf, V.S. Freimuth, P. Greenspon &
C. Plotnick
This study addresses the potential of entertainment television to educate
about serious subject matter, such as health content. Through the use
of open-ended, in-depth interviews of regular viewers in two metropolitan
sites, this study explores audience response to a fictionalized, serialized
portrayal of ovarian cancer on thirtysomething. Our questions
were directed to the audience's (a) viewing process, including interpersonal
contact, identification with characters, and prior experience with cancer,
(b) understanding of content, especially illness imagery and coping
strategies, and (c) applications to real life, including questions,
insights, knowledge, and actions. The details of this exploration indicate
the complexity of audience response to this kind of content and suggest
guidelines for health communicators as they work with the entertainment
industry to embed health-promoting messages in the media.
Advancing Public Health Goals
Through the Mass Media
L.B. Winett & L. Wallack
Recommendations to Improve Health
Risk Communication: Lessons Learned from the U.S. Public Health Service
T.L. Tinker
The growth in the public's concern over a variety of environmental
risks has placed new requirements and demands on U.S. Public Health
Service (PHS) agencies for information that describes and explains the
nature of risk in clear and comprehensible terms. Experience has shown,
however, that merely disseminating information without reliance on communication
principles can lead to ineffective health messages and public health
actions. This article presents the findings of a study conducted by
the Subcommittee on Risk Communication and Education of the Environmental
Policy Committee (EHPC), PHS, on how PHS agencies are communicating
information about health risk; how effective these communications have
been; and what specific principles, strategies, and practices best promote
effective health risk communication. The purpose of the Subcommittee's
study was to develop specific recommendations that would help PHS decision
makers and health risk communicators improve the effectiveness of health
information provided to, and received from, the public. The study suggests
fundamental principles drawn from a series of case studies from PHS
agencies about how best to plan and carry out risk communication activities.
FORUM
Notes from the Field: Does Publishing
in Academic Journals Make a Difference?
K. Witte
Kim Witte, Solomon Nzyuko of the African Medical and Research Foundation,
and Kenzie Cameron, of Michigan State University, traveled the length
of the TransAfrica Highway in Kenya to find out what commercial sex
workers, young men, and truck drivers and their assistants thought about
HIV, AIDS, and campaign materials targeted toward them. The authors
conducted focus groups and interviews at the rural truck stops that
dot the highway. This article records some thoughts on that experience.
Does Research Have Any Role in Information/Education/Communication
Programs in Africa? An Insider's View
S. Nzyuko
BOOK REVIEW
Jody Heymann.
Equal Partners: A Physician's Call for a New Spirit of Medicine.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995, 257 pp., $22.95.
Reviewed by Carolyn Frazer, M.D., Children's Hospital, Boston,
Massachusetts, USA
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